Fish Heats Up in Utah

//Fish Heats Up in Utah

Fish Heats Up in Utah

By | 2016-10-22T05:57:48-08:00 April 4th, 2011|News|Comments Off on Fish Heats Up in Utah

As the long NBA regular season draws to its close, the Lakers’ Derek Fisher is turning on the jets.

Friday night, against his former team, No. 2 exploded for 15 points and what was almost a perfect evening of basketball. Backed by a big game from Fish, the Lakers defeated the Utah Jazz 96-85 at Energy Solutions Arena.

Derek hit 4-of-6 shots from the field on the night, including going 2-of-3 from beyond the three-point line. To go with his 10 points from the floor, Fish also sank all five of the free throws he was awarded.

C.A. Clark of Silver Screen and Roll noted an extra push out of Fish in an arena that has held a wide-range of emotions for him in the past:

"Derek Fisher seems to have a special place in his heart reserved for taking revenge on the Jazz fans who booed him for leaving town on account of his daughter’s health, and he was spectacular in dropping 15 points on 8 shots."

Coupled with his scoring outburst, D-Fish also threw out three assists and recorded only one turnover on the night.

Fish’s effort was balanced on the evening. In the first frame he scored five points on a two-point bucket and three free throws. In the second, No. 2 put in four points.

But the third quarter was easily No. 2’s superior period. The veteran hit two treys and threw out two assists to round out his evening. Thanks to Fish and his backcourt partner Kobe Bryant, the Lakers left Utah with their 17th victory in 18 games.

Dave McMenamin of ESPN LA noted that the performance of Derek and Kobe reminded him of a game in Utah last May.

The co-captains. Kobe Bryant scored 21 and walked off a knee-on-knee clash to stay in the game. Derek Fisher scored 15 points on 4-for-6 shooting. The two of them gave L.A. stability when its offense was stagnant. It reminded you of Game 3 of last year’s Western Conference semifinals, when L.A. won a tough 111-110 battle to surge toward the series sweep. Bryant scored 35 that day to lead all scorers, but Fisher was vital in his own right, pouring in an unexpected 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting.

EVERY STREAK ENDS
The Lakers steamrolled back to Staples on Sunday, winners of nine straight and looking for number 10 to close out the weekend.

But they couldn’t continue their winning ways on Sunday afternoon, falling to the Denver Nuggets 95-90 at the Staples Center. Fish was quick to point out after the loss that one game does not reflect on how the Lakers played in their previous nine or how they will play in their final six. It is just that: one game, as he told ESPN LA:

"In my opinion, each game is kind of its own life. It’s own existence," he said. "When you win nine games or 10 games in a row, or however many games, they’re all independent of each other. Obviously you start to get some momentum and you start feeling good about how you’re playing, but winning a game two days ago has no bearing on winning or losing a game two days later."

"I think you go into every game, at least in our locker room, believing that you can win every time you can go out, and I don’t think you ever expect to lose or plan to say we’ve got one coming. It’s not really how we look at it."

Fish said that anytime the Lakers fall, they’re not going to be happy about it, but at the same time, all they can do is move on and look to improve.

"Every loss is disappointing in its own way and definitely losing a game on our home court today is disappointing," Derek said. "But the good and bad part about this league is you have another game a day or two later and you have to figure out a way to let this one go and starting to get prepared for Tuesday night."

CLOSING IN ON THE SPURS
The Lakers moved to within a game and a half of the San Antonio Spurs on Friday with a win over the Jazz coupled with a San Antonio loss.

But the weekend ended right back where it started after the Spurs beat the Suns and LA lost to Denver on Sunday. With six games to go, the Lakers sit 2.5 back of the No. 1 seed.

"It just kind of happened," Derek told the LA Daily News of reeling in the Spurs. "We didn’t consciously decide to catch them. We were just winning games and they were losing games. (Sunday), it was the wrong combination. They won and we lost."

That combination made the idea of catching San Antonio more of a long shot, but certainly not impossible, especially since the two play each other a week from tomorrow in LA.

NEXT UP
Tuesday night brings the Jazz to Staples for the second meeting between the two teams in three games.

Derek will be looking for a repeat performance of his 15-point showing in Utah. The game tips off at 7:30 PST and is being broadcast on Fox West and NBA TV.

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